


in your arms (i am home tonight)

by princessoftheworlds



Series: It's not a crime to love what you cannot explain [23]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Happy Ending, Post-Season/Series 04 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 14:50:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15391131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessoftheworlds/pseuds/princessoftheworlds
Summary: At the end of the night, after the food and the drinking and the dancing is done, Caroline exits the bathroom only for her mom to catch her by the arm. That’s when she presses a perfectly-creased envelope into her palm and gestures for her to open it.With unsteady hands, Caroline folds back the envelope flap and slides out a first-class ticket to Rome.The flight leaves tonight.





	in your arms (i am home tonight)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ashleighxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleighxx/gifts).



> For [ashleigh-jewitt-xx](http://ashleigh-jewitt-xx.tumblr.com//), who asked for a canon divergence fic.

_He was your first love, but I intend to be your last._

He’d said those words to her at her high school graduation, but they’d never really had a set plan. Klaus had gone south to hold down the fort in New Orleans while Caroline headed to Whitmore to forge her own future, following the path she’d marked out for herself as a hopeful and high-achieving human.

About a week after she had moved into the dorm she was to share with Bonnie and Elena, a large package had arrived at their doorstep: a mini-fridge. From Klaus. It wasn’t until the end of her freshman year that Caroline had learned about the Hayley-baby debacle, about how the devious brunette had attempted to trick Klaus and the other Mikaelsons into believing that she was pregnant with the hybrid’s baby. A ruse which, unsurprisingly, ended with her decapitation at Klaus’s hands.

Caroline hadn’t outright hated the werewolf, but she still felt indifferent about her death. (The bitch received the fate she deserved, in her opinion.)

Yet, that was the last she actually _heard_ of Klaus, only receiving the slightest snippets or updates about his life from Matt or Stefan who were in contact with Rebekah.

Caroline buried herself in her studies instead, taking full advantage of her vampiric nature - which included not needing sleep at all - to accumulate as much knowledge as possible. She took and aced the hardest classes her university offered to the point where her most ruthless competitors and her most merciless professors were forced to admit their admiration for her work ethic. She also applied for the most sought after internships.

Throughout the last few weeks before school ended, she’d hoped, while Elena and Bonnie stayed up late chatting about their post-graduation plans, that she’d receive a phone call, a letter, a note ... _anything_ from Klaus.

But she never did.

 

* * *

 

Caroline Forbes graduates from Whitmore College on an incredibly sunny day where the heat hammers down on her shoulders and seeps in through the thick fabric of her black graduation gown. A sea of black graduation caps toss into the air in celebration, Caroline tracking each one through the air with her supernatural senses. Watching as they’re snatched by smiling graduates before they hit the ground.

She weaves her way out of the crowd to join her mom and Matt. They wait on the fringe with a large bouquet of colorful flowers and a joyous smile each.

“I’m so proud of you,” Liz whispers into Caroline’s ear as the vampire sweeps her mom into a hug. “Your father would have loved to see this day.”

It’s been years since Bill Forbes attempted to torture the vampirism out of his daughter, and while Caroline is not sure she’ll ever be able to love her father in the same way she had before she turned, she still wishes he was alive to see this today. She’s mostly made her peace with him, with what happened. Time has been kind and has allowed her to heal some of her psychological wounds.

Sadly, her dad’s not the only presence she’s missing today.

 

* * *

 

Liz, Matt, and Caroline have dinner at a Michelin-star restaurant not too far away from Whitmore where they’re joined by Bonnie, Jeremy, Tyler, Elena, and Stefan. Elena and Stefan’s gazes never stray too far from each other, and Caroline’s willing to bet that the night ends with one of them in the other’s bed. They’ve been dancing around each other again, and enough time has passed now after that fucking piece of shit Damon slunk out of town, crushing Elena’s heart, for them to try again.

At the end of the night, after the food and the drinking and the dancing is done, Caroline exits the bathroom only for her mom to catch her by the arm. That’s when she presses a perfectly-creased envelope into her palm and gestures for her to open it.

With unsteady hands, Caroline folds back the envelope flap and slides out a first-class ticket to Rome.

The flight leaves tonight.

“I don’t understand,” she tells Liz in bewilderment. “What about Bonnie and Elena?”

Liz shakes her head. “Bonnie and Elena already know,” she says. “Just go. Matt’s waiting outside in the car, and I packed your purse with your phone and wallet. You don’t need anything else. Just go.”

As a still-befuddled Caroline turns to leave, her mother grabs her wrist and holds her hand briefly, squeezing it. “Remember, Caroline. I love you,” she smiles. “I want you to be happy.”

Caroline smiles back.

 

* * *

 

When Caroline exits the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and spots a familiar head of blonde waiting, things start to fall into place.

“Finally!” Rebekah Mikaelson huffs from where she leans against a red convertible, Prada sunglasses masking the glint of playful irritation in her eyes. “Your flight was supposed to land an hour ago. Now get in the car.”

Her manicured nails click together as she taps a button on her phone to unlock the car, then waves at her flippantly to climb inside.

Compared to the perfectly-groomed Original, the high school Caroline would bristle at her own messy hair and wrinkled clothes, but now, she only throws her head back and laughs as she opens the passenger side door.“Oh, how I’ve missed you, Rebekah Mikaelson.”

“Save it for my brother,” Rebekah responds, the corner of her scarlet-colored lips turning up into a smirk that must run in the family.

The casual allusion to Klaus robs the metaphorical breath from Caroline’s undead lungs, and she settles against the butter-smooth leather of her seat in silence while her car companion continues to smirk.

 

* * *

 

To Caroline’s surprise, they head to the outskirts of Rome where Rebekah parks outside of a simple-looking shop with darkened windows.

“Come,” she orders without even glancing back, just clicking her fingers at the other blonde.

“What, no _please_ or _thank you_?” Caroline grumbles as she follows behind.

The inside of the store starkly contrasts the outside. It’s a large open boutique with racks upon racks of colorful, expensive dresses and gowns, all brightly-illuminated by chandeliers that Caroline bets are made of actual crystal.

Rebekah bypasses the main area, heading straight for the back of the store where she calls for an Antonina. An employee who, later, proves to be a clever-eyed girl with nimble fingers and aristocratic features.

“Yes, Ms. Mikaelson?” Antonina asks, hovering by the doorway of the large changing room that Rebekah bundles Caroline into with haste.

“Send us the dresses I had you store away, please,” she says.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, after Caroline has paraded the boutique in over fifty gorgeous gowns, all designer and handmade, she and Rebekah come to a consensus over one before she’s sent off to the hairstylist and makeup artist.

(Both of which Caroline thinks work for celebrity clients. She swears she’s seen them her Instagram feed before.)

After Caroline is glammed and marched back out front, the Original appraises her with a smacking of her lips, “Perfect! Nik won’t know what hit him,” she says gleefully.

Before Rebekah sends her off to the limo waiting outside, Caroline catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her hair is pinned up with a few loose curls dangling down around her face, and her gown is a precious white silk that’s accented with tiny jeweled flowers. Her face is done in a way that only accentuates her natural features and doesn’t appear too artificial.

“Remind me to make you plan my wedding,” Caroline mutters, taken aback by the end result, only knowing that Rebekah has heard from the sound of her quiet laugh.

 

* * *

 

The limo drops Caroline off at the edge of a small plaza with tiles made of smoothened cobblestone and elegant iron-wrought streetlamps encircling the space. There is an intricately carved marble fountain in the center, cascading water over a series of sharp steps.

Tall, colorful buildings are pressed into the background, only visible to Caroline through the velvet curtain of night because of her vampire eyes. The warm light from the streetlamps only makes bright dots in the darkness, adding a hazy quality to the space.

And in the midst of it all, is Klaus Mikaelson.

He stands beside the fountain in a crisp white shirt, the top few buttons undone, and black dress pants. His curls are as roguishly mussed as ever, and he’s glancing down as if he isn’t aware of Caroline’s arrival yet.

But - _oh, he is_ \- because as her heels clack closer on the cobblestone, he glances up at her with a gentle smile.

“Caroline,” he says tenderly, and _she didn’t know the utterance of her name could hold so much emotion_.

“Klaus,” she states, smiling hesitantly.

Before she can say anything more, Klaus raises a hand to signal for music, a chorus of violins beginning to sound from somewhere in the darkness. He extends a hand to her, raising an expectant eyebrow. “Dance with me, if you will.”

Together, their palms kiss as she weaves her fingers through his and steps closer, their feet swaying in time to the lovely melody that drifts their way.

“What is all of this? Why did you bring me all the way to Rome?” she asks.

In the storm of his brilliant eyes, the same uncanny dark blue as Rebekah’s, she searches for answers, expecting to find nothing but hazy obscurity. Instead, she finds a quick flurry of warmth, longing, laughter, and above all, acceptance.

“ _Rome_ , _Paris, Tokyo_ ,” he quotes. “I promised to show them all to you, did I not?”

Frustration grows in her, a steady flame among the cool patience which flows through her veins. It ignites old emotions of rejection, of fear--all the emotions she thought had long grown cold or had faded away.

“Yes _ , _ ” she says slowly, “but why now? Why now after four years of limited contact?”

Klaus shrugs, and she wants to shriek, but then his lips part to speak again. 

“You look gorgeous tonight, love. Even more stunning than you did at my mother’s ball and at your prom.”

“Mikaelson,” she starts warningly. “Don’t tell me that you flew me all the way to another continent just to tell me I look pretty?”

He smirks slightly. “I only speak the truth, sweetheart.”

“The truth,” Caroline says, “would be an explanation.” 

In that one demand, the past four years of longing, lust, disappointment, frustration, and melancholy bleed out into her words, and Klaus’s eyes soften.

“You weren’t ready then,” he explains, fixing her with a delicate look. “You needed time.”

“Four years wasn’t enough?” she snarks, sounding a bit hurt.

“Sweetheart.” He spins her, and the world blurs until he steadies her with a warm hand against the small of her back. “You were made for being a vampire; you were made for more. But you needed to accept that. You needed to close the final chapter in the book that was your human life before we could write a new novel of our life...together.”

She stares at him. Understanding, but needing more.

“Tell me, Caroline,” Klaus says with a sigh, “how many times in the past four years did you catch a glimpse of the fragility of your classmates? How often did you see their humanity, their lack of vision or purpose? When did you finally understand that they would receive their degrees then go on to live their human lives stuck in ordinary jobs, surrounded by ordinary people?” 

“But you, Caroline--” his breath tickles against her skin, “you are extraordinary. I have always told you this. You just needed time to accept that.”

“Is it time now?” she asks, her gaze wide and fixed on him. 

“It is time,” he replies, spinning her again.

When Caroline returns to his arms, it is with newfound understanding and acceptance. “So,” she smiles, “this is Rome then. When are we going to see more?”  

Klaus leans down to kisses her in answer, his lips promising her millennia more of happiness and love.


End file.
